Greater Anglia has ended all First Class travel on its routes between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street.
An increasing number of routes are operated by new Class 745s that have been built without dedicated First Class seating areas, but with higher-density seating and dedicated cycle spaces.
First Class will remain in two dedicated coaches on trains on the Norwich-Ipswich-Colchester-London route.
And what is happening with the Class 379 Electrostar EMUs that operates services from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge, Hertford East, Bishops Stortford, Cambridge North and Harlow Town (and previously were used on Liverpool Street-Stansted Airport “Stansted Express”). Which have now been replaced by the Class 745/1 and Class 720/5 now operating on the West Anglia Main Line and Hertford East branch line. Obviously to be moved for storage once more Class 720s have been delivered and in service. Or could they be cascaded to Great Northern or Great Western Railway to add more extra trains and capacity on their network.
Güntürk Üstün - 16/12/2021 13:29
This innovative and decisive move came out as increasing numbers of services on the routes are operated by Greater Anglia’s new state-of-the-art EMUs which have been built by Stadler Rail in Switzerland without dedicated First Class seating areas. Over the coming year(s) even more new train units will replace the company’s existing old trains on routes to London Liverpool Street from Cambridge, Bishops Stortford, the Lea Valley line, Hertford East and between Meridian Water and Stratford. Both Greater Anglia’s Stansted Express services between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport and its Norwich/Cambridge to Stansted Airport services are already operated exclusively by brand new trains, offering high quality standard seating only. First Class seating on Greater Anglia’s old trains on the West Anglia routes have been declassified from Sunday 12 December and First Class tickets will no longer be sold for these services. Greater Anglia is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise. Dr. Güntürk Üstün